1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to performance of computing tasks and more particularly relates to establishing an agency relationship to perform delegated computing tasks.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many reasons that a need may arise for one computing device to delegate computing tasks to another computing device. Network resource management, hardware resource management, process scheduling, and security, and the like are examples of processes for which task delegation is desirable. When one computing device, network component, or component of a computing device requires assistance from another such device for improving efficiency, the need for delegation arises. Delegation as used herein means the assignment of responsibility for performing a computing task from one computing module or device (hereinafter node) to another node.
One example of an area in which delegation of computing tasks may be beneficial is network resource management. If one node on the network is operating under a disproportionately heavy load, when compared with other nodes on the network, the need for delegation arises. The overloaded node may delegate some of the tasks to be done to another network node that is not overloaded. In such an instance, the tasks can be accomplished more efficiently through the use of task delegation.
In a similar example, delegation provides more efficient use of computing device resources. A server may have multiple processors. If one of the processors is heavily loaded with a set of computing tasks, it may be beneficial to offload some of the computing tasks to one of the other processors. Delegation is therefore, a useful tool in balancing the amount of work to be done in both a network scope and a local machine scope.
Despite the usefulness of computing task delegation, currently some limitations exist. Security is an extremely important aspect of today's computing environment. In many situations, one node on a network may be burdened with a heavy task load, because that node is the only node authorized to perform the given tasks. Passwords and log-in ID are an important aspect of computer security. In many cases, a specific password is required to perform certain computing tasks. In order to maintain a secure computing environment, these passwords are often carefully protected. For delegation to work successfully, multiple nodes must possess the authorization required to perform a given set of delegated tasks. Therefore, it is often difficult to provide multiple nodes capable of performing delegated tasks and simultaneously maintain strict security policies.
One common solution to the authorization problem is to have a common password that a predetermined set of nodes possess, which can be used to perform a given set of computing tasks. By this method, known as masquerading, any one of the nodes possessing the password can perform the tasks. It is desirable that work performed for a delegated task be identified according to the node originally assigned the task. The problem with masquerading is that the individual identity of the node that performed the task is lost. This may be problematic if attempts are made to identify the node that performed the task. For example, when trouble shooting an error associated with the delegated task, it is important to know the identity of all nodes involved. With a common password, it is difficult to differentiate one node from another.
One example of a situation in which masquerading is often used is network node backup. Data from multiple network nodes must be backed up onto a single backup server. In most cases, access to data on a backup server is password protected for security. Generally, a predetermined set of backup nodes are given access, using a common password, to the backup server. There are several problems with this architecture.
One problem is backup process scheduling. Some backup servers, such as Tivoli™ Storage Management, use a single-tasked model. A named node can only have one backup process running at a time and only has one address for the server to contact to start a backup process. Consequently, this makes it difficult for a single task to be split up between several nodes to take advantage of delegating portions of the single task.
Another problem associated with masquerading is password management. It is difficult to distribute a common password across several nodes. In most cases, the password cannot be automatically updated upon expiration. In many cases, the password must be manually updated for each of the predetermined nodes.
As explained above, it is also difficult to determine which node was originally assigned to backup the data to be backed up and which node actually performed the backup, because of masquerading. Additionally, if an error occurs, it is extremely difficult to trace the source of the error, because under masquerading, the identities of the nodes performing the tasks are hidden due to the shared password and log-in ID.
From the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that a need exists for an apparatus, system, and method that establish an agency relationship to perform delegated computing tasks. Beneficially, such an apparatus, system, and method would allow for delegation of computing tasks while eliminating problems that arise from the complexities of process scheduling and authorization management.